Democratic inclusion and citizenship ‘from below’

In this project the current value debate in Denmark between cultural pluralistic and national conservative positions is examined as well as the tendency of this debate to either intensify or diminish ethno-cultural differences in public participation.

It will further be analysed whether ideas regarding both ‘integration’ and ‘assimilation’ result in different concepts of inclusion and how these concepts of inclusion are used in concrete efforts to increase involvement of citizens with a different ethnicity than Danish.

In its practical part, this project will investigate various possibilities for democratic involvement of ethnic minorities in associations and unions as well as in the public debate, which can be described as an ‘inclusion from below’. This is in contrast to more traditional forms of inclusion where integration is only seen in relation to public institutions and political decisions.

The main aim for this practical part of the project is thus to identify which forms of political participation particularly increase ownership and participation of ethnic minorities in the democratic public debate.